Lodges And Chapters Of Instruction.

Degree , and Bro . Heath vacated the chair of W . M . in favour of the Preceptor , who proceeded to rehearse the ceremony of installation , Bro . Heath acting as W . M . elect , and Bro . W . C Wiiliams , as D . C . Bro . Heath rehearsed the investment of officers , and Bro . Read gave the concluding address . Bro . Roberts was elected W . M . for the next meeting , and the lodge was closed .

CREATON LODGE ( No . 1791 ) . —A meeting was held on Thursday , December iSth , at the Wheatsheaf Hotel , Goldhawk-road , Shepherd's Bush , W . Present : Bros . Alfred Love , W . M . ; W . Hillier , S . W . ; J . Arnott , J . W . j James Sims , P . M ., Deputy Preceptor j E . Austin , P . M ., Treas . j F . Craggs , Sec ( pro tern . ); W . G . Jennings , S . D . j J . Brown , J . D . j H . J . Richardson , l . G . j H . P .

Gilbert , P . M . j R . H . Rogers , P . M . ; H . J . Martineau , T . S . Stevens , and W . F . Harbord . The lodge was opened in due form , and the ceremony of initiation rehearsed . The ist and 2 nd Sections of the Lecture were worked by Bro . Sims , assisted by the brethren . Bro . Hillier was elected W . M . for the next meeting , and the lodge was closed .

CHISWICK LODGE ( No . 2012 ) . —A meeting was held on Saturday , December 27 th , at the Windsor Castle Hotel , Hammersmith , W ., when there were present Bros . A . Williams , P . M ., W . M . ; W . S . Whiteley , S . W . j W . Hillier , J . W . j J . Sims , P . M ., Preceptor j G . Gardner , P . M ., Treas . j J . Brown , Sec . j J . N . Baxter , S . D . j F . Craggs , J . D . j M . Speigel , l . G . j and T . W . Biggs .

Lodge was opened in due form , and the minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed . The W . M . rehearsed the ceremony of initiation , Bro . Baxter being the candidate . The lodge was opened in the Second and Third Degrees . The ist Section of the Third Lecture was worked by the brethren , under the direction of Bro . 1 . Sims ,

P . M . The lodge was resumed , and on the usual rising , Bro . Whiteley was elected W . M . for the next meeting . Notice was given that the installation ceremony would be rehearsed by the W . M . of the mother lodge on Saturday , the 10 th inst . After " Hearty good wishes , " the lodge was closed .

THE ABBEY ( WESTMINSTER ) LODGE ( No . 2030 ) . —A meeting of this lodge was held on Friday , the 19 th December , at the Town Hall , Westminster , when there were present Bros . Badderley , W . M . ; Roberts , S . W . ; Barber , f . W . j Brindley , P . M ., Preceptor ; Coughlan , P . M ., Sec . ; " Budd , Asst . Sec . j Hobbs , S . D . j Bristow , J . D . j White , I . G . j and Balchin , Stwd .

The lodge was opened in due form , and the minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed . The lodge was opened in the Secoud Degree . Bro . Balchin , a candidate to be raised to the Third Degree ,- answered the usual questions , and was entrusted . The lodge was opened in the Third Degree . The ceremony of raising was rehearsed , Bro . Balchin being the candidate . The lodge was resumed

to the First Degree . Bro . Brindley , a candidate to be passed to the Second Degree , answered the usual questions , and was entrusted . The lodge was resumed to the Second Degree . The ceremony of passing was rehearsed , Bro . Brindley being candidate . The lodge was resumed to the First Degree . Bro . Roberts was unanimously elected W . M . for next lodge meeting . Nothing further offering , the lodge was closed .

LOUGHBOROUGH LODGE .-A meeting of this lodge was held at the Gauden Hotel , Clapham , on Monday , the 15 th Dec , when there were present Bros . Russell , W . M . j Windsor , S . W . j J . Mitchell , J . W . ; Westley , Preceptor ; King , S . D . j Steele , J . D . j Lyell , I . G . ; Cochrane , Langdon , Poole , Penn , Janau , Livett , Nettleship , Wyer , Balcombe , and George Everett .

The lodge was opened in the First Degree , and the minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed . The lodge was opened in the Second Degree , and , the ceremony of raising being announced , Bro . Langdon offered himself as a candidate , and having answered the usual questions , was entrusted . The lodge was opened in the Third Degree , and Bro . Langdon raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master

Mason . ithe W . M . giving the traditional history . The lodge was resumed to the First Degree . The W . M . rose for the first time , and dues were collected . Bro . Penn , 13 S 1 , was unanimously elected a joining member , and returned thanks . Bro . Everett returned thanks to the brethren for their kindly help given to him in his nomination to the

honourable post of Grand Treasurer . Bro . Russell expressed the satisfaction of the lodge at the event . The VV . M . rose for the second time , and Bro . Windsor was unanimously elected W . M . for the next meeting . Bro . Windsor returned thanks , and appointed his officers in rotation . The W . M . rose for the third time , and all Masonic business being ended , the lodge was closed .

ANDREW CHAPTER ( No . S ) .-A meeting of this chapter was held on Wednesday , the 10 th December , at the Windsor Castle Hotel , King-street , Hammersmith , when there were present Comps . W . Hillier , M . E . Z . ; J . H . Wood , H . ; James Sims , P . Z ., J . j W . J . Coplestone , P . S . j and T . Jobson , S . N . The convocation was declared open , and the ceremony of exaltation was rehearsed , and the meeting adjourned until Wednesday , the 24 th inst .

HORNSEY CHAPTER ( No . Sgo ) .-A meeting was held on the 19 th December , at the Porchester Hotel , Leinsterplace , Cleveland-square , Paddington , W ., when there were present Comps . H . Dehane , P . Z . Sgo , S . E . and M . E . Z . ; VV . Hillier , H . ; J . C Tilt , ist A . S . S 62 , J . ; E . C . Mulvey , M . E . Z . 2246 , J . 2202 . S . N . 179 , and P . G . D . C . Surrey , S . N . ;

and G . Gregory , 2 nd A . S . S 62 , P . S . The chapter was opened , and the minutes of the last convocation were read and confirmed . Royal Arch ritual was ^ discussed , and instruction generally imparted . The M . E . Z . rose the usual number of times . It was agreed that there be no meeting until Friday , the 2 nd inst . After " Hearty good wishes , " the chapter was closed .

MAR CHAPTER ( No . 1275 ) .-The usual weekly meeting of this chapter was held at the Stirling Castle , Camberwell , on the 19 th December , when there were present Comps . Phillips , M . E . Z . ; Grummant , H . ; North , J . ; F . Hilton , P . Z ., Preceptor j C . H . Stone , S . E . j Stone , S . N . j and Toweis , P . S .

The chapter was opened , and the minutes of the last meeting were read and conlirmed . The ceremony of exaltation was rehearsed , Comp . Hilton personating the candidate . A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Comp . Phillips , P . Z ., for filling the position of M . E . Z ., it being the first time in this chapter of instruction . Comp , J . Grummant , P . Z ., was elected M . E . Z . for the next meeting .

Board Of Benevolence.

BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE .

The monthly meeting of the Board of Benevolence , the last for the year 1890 , was held on December 24 th , at Freemasons' Hall . Bro . Robert Grey , P . G . D ., President of the Board , occupied the chair , Bro . James Brett , P . G . P ., Senior Vice-President , was in the Senior Vice-President ' s chair : and Bro . C . A . Cottebrune ,

P . G . P ., Junior Vice-President , was in the chair of Junior Vice-President . Bros . A . A . Pendlebury , Asst . G . Sec . ; W . Dodd , and W . H . Lee represented the office of Grand Secretary , and there were also present Bros . W . P . Brown , D . D . Mercer , Chas . H . Driver , H . Garrod , S . Vallentine , G . B . Chapman , J . B . Grieve ,

T . W . Whitmarsh , S . H . Goldschmidt , A . C . Woodward , N . Tracy , H . F . Youle , G . C . Whitley , Joseph R . Waller , G . A . Littlewood , C . H . Webb , G . H . Finch , J . Railing , E . White , H . Massey , J . H . George , C . N . Mclntyre North , J . E . C . Winkfield , W . Beasley , J . A . Wilson , W . Fisher , E . Brooks , C . A . Woods , F . M .

Bilby , J . J . Pakes , H . Lloyd , A . Ferrar , T . P . Collings , and H . Sadler , G . Tyler . After the Board had been formally opened , the PRESIDENT announced the reception of letters from candidates who had been relieved . Among them was one from a brother who , with his family , had been

assisted to go to Australia , thanking the Board for their aid , and informing them that since he and his family had arrived in the colony he had obtained a situation and two of his sons had also obtained appointments there . The brethren then confirmed recommendations to

the Grand Master made at the November meeting to the amount of ^ 540 . On the new list were 35 cases from the London district , and from Malton , Margate , Ipswich , Nottingham , Hertford , Haverfordwest , Wisbech , Leigh ( Lancashire ) , Salford , Filey , South Shields , Hull , Hong Kong Meerut , Poona ,

Stourport , and Manchester . Two cases were dismissed and seven deferred . The remainder received recommendations or grants to the amount of ^ 575 . There were three recommendations to Grand Lodge for ^ 50 each , one to the Grand Master for £ 40 . and two of £ 30 each . Twelve grants were

made of ^ 20 each , two for . £ 15 each , four for £ 10 each , and three for . £ 5 each . In two of the cases relieved , which were London cases , the petitioners did not appear in person , owing to ill-health , and the cause of their non-appearance was explained by the visiting brethren who supported them . But , according to the rules of the Board , when a

petitioner cannot present himself on account of illness , he must send a medical certificate to that effect . In these cases no medical certificate was sent , and Bro . ROBERT GREY requested that it should be made known that where illness prevented a candidate from attending , it was absolutely necessary that a medical certificate should be forwarded .

An Oration.

AN ORATION .

The following oration was delivered at the consecration of the Collin Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners , at Maryport , by Bro . the Rev . J AMES ANDERSON , P . P . G . Chap ., recently : — " Masonry is evidently a progressive science in the west of Cumberland . It is on the rise in Maryport .

Amid its elevation of chapels and restoration of churches , its creation of institutes and erection of houses , the point within the circle from which every part of the circumference is equally distant attains to still greater prominence and multi plicity . It is not obscured b y the influx of architectural surroundings ,

nor buried out of si ght by the commendable innovation of moral and reli gious improvements , but seems determined to increase with the increasing activity , and shine like the morning star in the visible and undying existence of a Masonic perpetuity . About 2000 years ago , in the early stages of the Christian era , there lived

a man brought up at the feet of Gamaliel , learned and intellectual , and laying claim to inspiration , who told the people of Galatia that it was good to be zealousl y affected always in a good thing . The brethren of Maryport seem to have endorsed that apostolic statement , and adapted it as their motto in regard to

Masonry . They clearly consider it a good thing , and are affected towards it with a zealous affection . They rest not contented with one Degree , or even two , but have advanced from one Degree to several in succession , until their Masonic catalogue now embraces the Craft , the Arch , the Mark , the Allied , and to these

there is this day to be added the Collin Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners . If that is not a zealous affection for Masonry , and a most significant appreciation and admiration of the mystic rite , I do not very well know what is . Such progress must arise out of a spirit of Masonic enthusiasm , which one

would desire to become more and more infectious , until every nook and crannie far and near , where Masonry has obtained a footing , has caught the Masonic contagion , and learned to vie with each other in the extension and multiplication of that ancient and honourable institution which boasts of having as its solid foundation the practice of every moral and

social virtue . That may safely be denominated the beautiful in Masonry of which it is impossible to have more than enough , and the system which rests its pillars and its pedestals on that infallible basement can never degenerate into disuetude nor crumble to decay . The saying has resolved into a proverb that it is possible to have too much of a good thing . That may apply to meats and drinks and other convivial things

An Oration.

and pastimes ; it is possible to be killed with kindness , a species of extinction in this naturally selfish world , which I should say forms the exception and not the rule , but it does not apply to Masonry . We would rather apply to it those appropriate lines of Keat ' s , who , if he was

not a Mason , from his correct and prophetic , although , in all likelihood , unintentional description of the art , deserved to be one , and which should be written on the vertibule of every lodge and imprinted upon our ritual and regalia . " A thing of beauty is a joy for ever :

Its loveliness increases , it will never Pass into nothingness . " That thing of beauty in one other of its phases we consecrate anew to-day . We inaugurate in this place and at this sacred hour the Collin Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners . No better title could be found ; a title

founded upon the name of one , not after the fashion of a mere complimentary acknowledgment , but of one who merits this record of his greatness ; a brother of superior rank , and possessed of those component qualities which are indispensable to a Free and Accepted Mason . Henceforth the names of Sewell and Collin

are enshrined in the temple of Cumberland Masonry . We have a Sewell Lodge of Ark Mariners at Whitehaven , and now we have a Collin Lodge of Ark Mariners at Maryport , and before very long we shall have a Sewell Lodge of Mark Master Masons at Egremont . Thus the names of Sewell and Collin are

destined to predominate in the united Provinces of Cumberland and Westmorland , and by the distinguished and distinguishing laurels of lodge titles they are to be immortalised and handed down from generation to generation . Can any good thing come out of Maryport ? The answer to that question is the same as the

one returned a long time ago to a similar question in the case of Nazareth , come and see . May Masonry in our midst long be adorned with the active presence of two such worthy brethren , and overshadowed with the virtue of their illustrious names . And may this little ark which is launched to-day ride safely on the billows

and rest calmly on the Ararat of tranquillity and peace ; may it be a joy for ever , may its loveliness increase , and may it never pass into nothingness . It has begun well ; may it run well , and none to hinder . Ten Mark Masons all pass within its door , and that door is not yet shut unless it be to the strains of discord and

impropriety . Itisopenformoretofollow . This beautiful Degree which gives scope for memory and for elocutionary effect , is strictly of Bible origin and history . It is founded upon the seas and established on the floods . You trace it to the Volume of the Sacred Law . Masonry did not first see the light in the seventeenth

century . A thread of the Rosicrucian may run through it , but it dates not its being to Christian Rosy Cross . We simply go further back to the first and second temples , and to a period even more remote , when Noah reared his alters and sacrificed thereon to the Most High . The Ark is an appendage of the Mark ,

because , perhaps , of its similarly operative character . In every other respect it stands alone , having its own regulations , constitutions , and ceremonies . Its ritual is expressive and withal religious . Its prayer of elevation is sublime and scriptural , full of confidence in the Divine promises , mellowed with the graces of

benevolence and Charity , and breathing hopes of everlasting rest and blessedness . Who would presume to say that Masonry is infidelity , or that a Mason is not a religious man ? This , at least , must be his creed , " I believe in God the Father Almighty , Maker of heaven and earth : " and this , at least , must be his confession , as

in the initial sentence of the Church ' s Litany , " We praise Thee O God ; we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord . " It is not a fiction but a fact that among those notorious sins and crimes which stain and disgrace our country a Mason is not to be found ; and if every man in the kingdom were a Mason , and walked up to the

laws and doctrines of Freemasonry , there would not be a dishonourable and obnoxious criminal in the land . The three points of beauty , strength , and wisdom ; the chosen language of its solemn obligation ; the splendid definition of its signs and working tools ; the grandeur of its five cardinal

virtues , interwoven as they all are with the sanctity of Holy Writ , and closely welded together by the Volume of the Sacred Law , form an Eiffel Tower of colossal proportions , a moral and religious structure of magnificence and magnitude , which admit of no rival , and with which there are none to compare . For which

prime reason we laud Masonry , and we extol Ark Masonry , and we wish it to extend and prosper the wide , wide world around . It is already on the upward tendency , although its march thus far has been somewhat slow . Its assiduity has not been commensurate withSthe progress of the Mark , to which it is appended .

At the end of March , 1889 , there appears to have been 403 Mark lodges , with warrants issued for additional ones , and a registered total of 25 , 339 , ' giving- an average of over 60 to each lodge ; whilst of the Ark there was a registered total of 2733 certificates , with warrants issued for additional lodges . The disparity

speaks for itself , and points out the necessity for more sailing power , that the speed may be increased until every Mark shall have its Ark . That is nothing more than what ought to be . Every Mark Mason should be an Ark Mason , seeing that the one is the complement of the other , just as much so as the Arch is the complement

of the Craft . In that union of equality there is strength . We must look at these Degrees in their connection , in the relation which the one maintains to the other , in order to trace their adoption , and not in their separate and isolated character and capacity . By that process we settle the intelligent choice of a Degree , and claim to